Qimo 4 Kids2.0

We have introduced a new character to Qimo, her name is Illa, a cute and cuddly little polar bear. Illa (pronounced 'ee-la') is an Inuit word that means "friend", and we know she'll find her way into the hearts of your kids. She also has her own wallpaper featuring the artic landscape at dusk, filled with hues of pink and purple with the Auroa Borealis shining in the sky. Choose from a variety of Qimo and Illa wallpapers to find the one that is just right for your child.

Have more than one child? With Qimo 2, they can each have their own user account! The Xubuntu session is still there too, so you can create an account for yourself as well.

Qimo 4 Kids is an open source and freely distributed operating system based on the world's most popular free Linux distribution, Ubuntu, and designed from the ground up to be used by children aged 3 or over.

Availability, supported architectures and boot options

The distribution is available for download as a single Live CD ISO image that can be burned onto a blank CD disc using any CD/DVD burning software or written to a USB thumb drive using the Disks (GNOME) or UNetbootin applications.

It supports both 32-bit and 64-bit hardware platforms. From the boot prompt, users can try the operating system without installation anything on their computer, check the disc for defects (only if using a CD media), run a memory test, start an existing OS, and install the distro without testing it (not recommended).

Cool educational apps, really great desktop environment

The graphical session is powered by the lightweight Xfce desktop environment, which is designed in such a way to look beautiful and appealing for kids. It is comprised of a top panel for accessing the main menu, launching applications and interacting with running programs, as well as a dock (app launcher) located on the bottom edge of the screen.

Educational applications include the GCompris high quality educational software suite, Child's Play educational tool, Tux Paint painting program, Tux Math arcade game for practicing math facts, Tux Type for learning how to type, and Laby for learning how to program with ants and spider webs.

Bottom line

Summing up, Qimo 4 Kids is a really great GNU/Linux operating system for kids, especially because it is based on the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution and because of the great selection of educational applications that it includes.

Qimo 4 Kids was reviewed by Marius Nestor, last updated on April 25th, 2014